Walk Score

With Halloween fast approaching, it’s important for trick-or-treaters young and old to know where to score the best candy. Walk Score is proud to be one of four criteria Zillow used to put together a handy list of the 5 best Trick-or-Treat neighborhoods in Seattle. The other equally weighted factors are Zillow’s home value index, population density and local crime data.

So which neighborhoods rank highest? Wallingford (90), Queen Anne (81),  Magnolia (61), University District (94) and Capitol Hill (87).

Check out the Walk Scores for all 77 Seattle neighborhoods.

We’re very excited to announce that Windermere Real Estate is now showing Walk Score on all their website listings.

Windermere is a great Seattle success story and is ranked as the largest independent real estate company in the West, with more than 300 offices and 8,000 associates serving communities in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming, Washington and British Columbia.  Windermere’s website attracts nearly 1 1/2 million visitors each month to view detailed home listings.  Windermere.com is displaying the Walk Score Tile on all listings, such as this beautiful Wallingford neighborhood home in Seattle.  Thanks to the online team at Windermere for their online leadership and use of Walk Score!

Big news!  We’re thrilled to announce that the Rockefeller Foundation awarded a grant to Front Seat (makers of Walk Score) to enhance Walk Score.

We’re using the grant to add public transit, transportation cost, and greenhouse gas emission data to Walk Score.   We’re also going to make Walk Score open source!

Today we are launching WalkScore.org where we’ll make the Walk Score source code publicly available.  We’ll also host forums there for discussing walkability and other improvements to Walk Score. Visit WalkScore.org to sign up for updates.

So what does this mean for you?

• You’ll see public transit stops on the Walk Score map
• Public transit accessibility will be factored into your Walk Score
• You’ll see your predicted transportation cost and greenhouse gas emissions provided by The Center for Neighborhood Technology

We are grateful to the Rockefeller Foundation for their generosity, vision, and support!

Read the press release.

Thank you John D. Rockefeller!

Looking for a bright spot in the housing market?  CEOs for Cities just released a study based on data from Walk Score and ZipRealty that shows one point of Walk Score is worth as much as $3,000 depending on the metro area.  Read the study.

Upset about your home’s value?  The good news is that you, your neighbors, and government can work together to make your neighborhood more walkable—and a higher Walk Score makes your home worth more.

Here’s the value of one point of Walk Score by city:

In 13 out of 15 metro areas, higher Walk Scores are directly linked to higher home values.  Homes with above-average Walk Scores are worth between $4,000 – $34,000 more than similar but less walkable homes.

So why do Las Vegas and Bakersfield have lower home prices with higher Walk Scores?  My hunch is that those sprawling cities don’t have enough walkable neighborhoods to create a price premium.  Also, in Las Vegas residents may actually pay more to be farther away from The Strip.

Read the research report and let us know what you think!

We’ve got two new research reports hot off the griddle that look at the effect of Walk Score on property value.

The first report by Gary Pivo (U of Arizona) and Jeffrey D. Fisher (Indiana U) was released last week and shows a 10 point increase in Walk Score increases commercial property values by 5-8%. Download the report here.

The second report by Joe Cortright and CEOs for Cities will be launching soon and revels how much one point of Walk Score is worth in different metro areas.  Stay tuned…

The Walk Score iPhone App is available for free in the Apple App Store!  The app makes it simple to get the Walk Score where you are right now.

Download the app to get:

• The Walk Score of any location
• Map of nearby amenities with walking directions
• No more typing addresses! (use GPS instead)
• Reviews and ratings of amenities

Fun fact for Earth Day: according to the U.S. Census, 97 million Americans drive to work every day alone.  Only 6 million take public transit.  We’d like to introduce you to two people who are going to help us change that.

We’re thrilled to announce that Seleta Reynolds and Bronwen Thornton are joining the Walk Score Advisory Board.

Seleta is a consultant for Fehr & Peers, President of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals, and serves on the Transportation Research Board Pedestrian Committee.

Seleta is an expert walkability practitioner and we’re excited to have her help as we work to make Walk Score more accurate.

Bronwen is Development Director for Walk21, the leading international conference on walkability. Bronwen has worked on transportation policy related to walking and biking in Britain, Australia, and Canada.

We’re excited about the international perspective Brownwen brings to Walk Score as we expand our coverage to more countries.

Welcome Seleta and Bronwen!

I wish I could say that the Boston Globe interviewed me for this article and that I was SO on message that they covered all my talking points.   But I tend to ramble—so maybe this article is so good precisely because I wasn’t interviewed?

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2009/04/05/walk_this_way/

“Walkability has become a buzzword in real estate, as environmentalists and “green” planners advocate compact residential neighborhoods near businesses and public transportation. And some realtors say in this difficult market, houses with high walkability scores are easier to sell: Owners can save money by walking to mass transit, and by using less gas when running errands.”

Today at Inman Real Estate Connect we’re announcing partnerships that will add Walk Score to over 85 million properties!

We’re proud to announce that Zillow.com, ZipRealty.com, Postlets.com, REcolorado.com, ColoProperty.com, and others will now show Walk Score on all their listings using Walk Score Real Estate Services.

REcolorado.com is the first partner to go live with the new Walk Score API:

If you’re at Inman Real Estate Connect, come chat with us about adding Walk Score to your listings!

ZipRealty.com just added Walk Score to all of their property listings (1,377,591 active homes, last time we checked).

“With gas prices going through the roof, our buyers want homes closer to where they work, local stores, and public transportation,” says Patrick Lashinsky, ZipRealty’s President and CEO.

Kudos to ZipRealty.com for helping their customers find homes in walkable neighborhoods.  Not only are walkable homes smart investments in an age of $4/gallon gas, they’re better for your waistline (people in walkable neighborhoods weigh about 7 pounds less) and they’re better for the planet.

Head on over to ZipRealty.com to find your next walkable house!